Insulated wall unit



United States Patent O l 3,377,760 INSULATED WALL UNIT William Waite, Chicago, Ill., assigner to Transco Inc., Chicago, Ill., a corporation of Delaware Filed Apr. 1, 1966, Ser. No. 539,439 3 Claims. (Cl. 52-410) ABSTRACT F THE DISCLSURE An insulated Wall unit consisting of an exterior metallic load-bearing corrugated panel and an inner brous insulating batt covered on its exposed side by a heat reflective moisture resistant corrugated foil; the exterior panel providing a plurality of impaling pins upon which are secured the insulating batt and corrugated foil with a rectangularly shaped fastener plate inserted on the free end-of each of the pins, and providing a peripheral edge recess for preventing axial displacement and circular movement of the material on the impaling pins.

A particular object of my invention is the provision in a wall unit of this character of an arrangement for attaching a panel of insulated material to the inner surface of each of the wall units which comprise the wall structure.

AA further object of my invention is the provision in a wall unit of this character of a means for pre-fabricating the wall unit on the job before each unit is arranged in superimposed relation to form an outer insulated wall for a storage tank or the like.

An equally important object of my invention is in the provision of a Wall unit of this character of means upon which is impaled the insulating panel, which panel is provided with a semi-rigid corrugated backing element which cooperates with a fastener for securing the panel to the Wall unit.

Other objects Will appear hereinafter.

The invention consists in the novel combination and arrangement of parts to be hereinafter described and claimed.

The invention will be best understood by reference to the accompanying drawings showing the preferred form of construction, and in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of my improved pin fastener associated with my invention;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a prefabricated Wall unit; and

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary sectional detail view taken on line 3-3 of FIG. 2.

This invention relates to a self-supporting wall structure for storage tanks and the like, which provides an inner layer of insulation. The wall structure normally comprises a plurality of superimposed prefabricated wall units 10. The wall unit may comprise an outer loadbearing metallic sheet 11 which in the preferred form is corrugated, as shown. The metallic sheet 11 is adapted to be connected to like wall units in any approved manner such as by rivets, brackets, or the like.

Each of the wall units 10 has mounted on one face thereof a batt of insulation material 12. This insulation material may be in the form of liber glass and the like andas such, is slightly compressed and bonded together by a suitable resin or the like. i

The exposed surface or rear face of the batt 12 of insulation material is adapted to be covered by a sheet of aluminum foil 13. As shown the foil 13 is corrugated and disposed in such a manner that its corrugations extend transversely to the corrugations of the sheet 11. This adds rigidity and strength to the nnit when assembled. This foil sheet 13 should be sufficiently heavy to withstand the rough usage encountered in structural work 3,377,760 Patented Apr. 16, 1968 ICC in which it is used, and therefore the thickness of such sheet should be .Q01-.005". It is desirous that while this sheet 13 be of sufficient thickness to act as a retainer for the fiber glass insulation 12 as Well as to act as a retainer for the fiber glass insulation 12 and to present a reflective surface and form a vapor barrier for the insulated prefabricated Wall unit, it should at the same time be soiliciently light and penetrable to be impaled upon connecting pins 14.

Each of the metallic sheets 11 is provided lwith a plurality of laterally extending pins 14 which have their base connected by means of welding or the like to the inner crest yof the corrugations of the sheet, as shown in FIG. 3. Upon these pins `14 is impaled the insulating batt 12 as well as the foil sheet 13, with the pins 14 projected through the paised crest of the corrugations of such foil 13. A fastener plate 15 is then placed over the exposed end 16 of the pin 14, as seen in FIGS. 2 and 3. This fastener plate 15 is generally of a substantially rectangular shape and is provided 'with a center aperture 17 through which the free end 16 of the pin 14 is journ'alled. One side Wall of the fast-ener plate 15 is provided with a slot 18, as viewed in FIG. 1.

Aifter the insulating batt 12 and foil sheet 13 have been impaled upon the pin 14 and the fastener plate 15 has been placed thereover, the complete insulating panel is forcibly compressed against the expansion forces of the corrugations of the foil 13, so that the free end 16 of the pin 14 may be caused to be bent in -a reverse direction to project through the slot 18 and into the foil sheet 13 and insulati-on batt 12, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3.

This arrangement affords a positive connection between the astener plate 15 and the pin 14 and with the end 16 thereof projected into the -slot 18, the fastener plate 15 will .be prevented from rotating about the axis of the pin 14 and thereby causing damage to the insulation material 12.

'Ihere is also provided a pin bending plate 24, and as shown it is sub-rectangular and `of a size less than that of the fastener plate 15. The bending plate 24 is provided with a center aperture 25 through which the free end 16 of pin 14 projects. When the pin 16 is sol assembled upon the plates 1'5 and 24, one edge 26 of the plate 24 will lie in alignment with the inner end of the slot 1,8, so that when the -iree end 16 of the pin 14 is bent about the plate 24 it will project through the slot 18 and into the batt 12.

As shown in FiG. l, the metallic sheet 11 is generally of substantially rectangular shape and of a size slightly greater than the insulating panel attached to its rear side so as t-o present side peripheral edges ,19. These edges 19 of each of the wall units 10 may then be overlapped and connected together to form lan insulated Wall structure for a storage tank or the like, .as shown in FIG. 3.

To provide an uninterrupted insulated. backing for the wall units 10, one lateral edge 20 of the insulation batt 12 is recessed as at 21. The opposite lateral edge 22 of the insulation batt 12 is formed to provide a tongue 23 which extends laterally a distance equal to the corresponding edge 19, as viewed in FIG. 2. It is readilyl apparent that as each of the Wall units 10 is arranged in juxtaposed relation with respect to each other, the tongue 23 of one insulation batt 12 will project into the recess 21 of the next confronting insulation batt.

The fastener plate 15 will resist the expansion pressure of the insulating panel when the same is mounted in a wall structure. In the past, such expanding and supporting forces have been directed against a thin edge of the connecting pin which frequently resulted in the tearing and shredding of the insulation material, greatly reducing its effectiveness.

Through the use of my fastener plate 15, the expanding and supporting forces are transmitted onto and across the f-ull face of the fastener plate 15 as it bears upon the :foil sheet 14. The larger bearing area of the fastener plate 15 disperses this expanding and supporting pressure evenly throughout the body of the fastener plate and prevents the tearing or shredding of the insulation material despite yrough handling or usage of the insulation panel. The aluminum sheet 13 acts as a retainer for the fiber glass insulation batt 12, while at the same time presenting an uninterrupted reective surface facing the storage tank or like structure and preventing the loss of heat or Vapor therefrom.

While I have illustrated and described the preferred form of construction yfor carrying my invention into effect, this is capable of variation and modification without departing from the spirit of the invention. I therefore do not wish to 'be limited to the precise details of construction set forth, lbut desire to avail myself of such variations and modifications as come within the scope of the appended claims.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to protect by Letters Patent is:

1. An insulated wall unit comprising:

(a) an exterior met-allie load-bearing corrugated panel,

(lb) `a plurality of impal-ing pins projecting laterally from one side of the inner crest of the panels cor- -rugations Iand perpendicular to the normal plane of said panel,

(c) a fibrous insulating batt of a thickness greater than that of the panel impaled upon said pins,

(d) a heat-reective moisture-resistant corrugated foil covering for the exposed side of said insulating batt impaled upon said pins over said batt, with the corvrugations thereof extending transversely to the corrugations of said panel,

(e) -a substantially rectangular shaped fastener plate inserted on each of said pins,

(if) each of said plates having a slot cut inwardly from -one side edge thereof for receiving the free ends of each of said pins so as to prevent axial displacement and circular movement of said fastener plates upon said pins and to cooperate with said foil covering for preventing tearing and shredding of said fibrous insulating batt during installation.

2. An insulated wall -unit as defined in claim 1 wherein said metallic panel is of a size greater than said insulating batt so as to provide peripheral edge portions ladapted to be superimposed upon juxtapositioned panels to form a continuous self-supporting insulated wall.

3. An insulated wall unit as defined in claim 2 wherein said insulating batt has its opposite lateral edges formed to provide interlocking tongue and groove connections between juxtapositioned panels.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,395,766 11/1921 Phillips '52-618 X 2,238,022 4/1941 Johnson 52-618 X 3,163,265 12/1964 Waite 52-410 X 3,290,845 12/1966 Snyder 52-625 X HENRY C. SUTHERLAND, Primary Examiner.

AlLFR'ED C. PERI-IAM, Assistant Examiner. 

